“Love in Every Bite”: Turning Your Passion Into Business With Amaya Ford of Mya’s Catering Co.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. You want tech and tacos, Tacos in tech you know we got tacos and tech is on smash border green guacamole keeper captains counting beans Contador Quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a crappy and coffee my coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean Watch the sunset la Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana estee be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach Tech leaders believe stars are within reach we interview and founders who be shooting for the Moon hashtag SD TechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom and I am thrilled to have you here on the Talkers and Tech Podcast. We interview builders of technologies, of companies, of communities and we do it weekly. So thanks for tuning in every Tuesday and interview. And on Fridays we talk about what's new in the San Diego tech ecosystem from a news perspective. So make sure you join us there as well too. We also have a tech newsletter that comes out every other week@freshbrewedtech.com you can subscribe to listen to it without further ado. Enjoy this episode. I'm thrilled to continue this special feature we've been doing with Connect all at the Jacobs center with Amaya Ford, founder of Maya's Catering Company. Hey Maya, thanks for being on the pod.

Hey Neil, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Absolutely. It's good to connect and meet you here. I'm excited to get to know a bit of your story and how you've built this business. Do you want to give us a quick overview of what Maya's Catering Company is?

So we are a nostalgic based bakery. So we basically take all the desserts we all grew up on and love and you know we're bringing those back. There's I feel a lot of non traditional bakeries and with the pandemic happening, how I've grown up as a child to my adulthood, what's brought me Home. And what's made me feel really good is nostalgia and tradition. So that's why we're here.

Oh, that's super cool. I think we're all going to obviously relate to a lot of different pieces here. We'll bring up different bakery items throughout just to like, keep all of our mouths watering. Take us a little back. You know, speaking of nostalgia, take us back. Where'd you grow up and what were some of those favorite childhood baked items?

I grew up in southeast San Diego, born and raised, still here. And my favorite is chocolate chip cookies. I don't know why, it's just that's our thing in my household is like chocolate chip cookies. So that's what actually started the whole baking thing going. And then I have an 8 year old who was I think 4 or 5 at the time when I started my business. So that cookie's named after her. So it just kind of. She was born here. So it's just a whole family kind of gathering that started this business in the way that's going now.

Very cool. So did you. So you obviously were these. Were you were baking as a child or was someone else baking? Like what's where the baking part come in or was just, you know, just something that the family did?

We have a history, I mean, a long history of cooks and bakers in my family. But the closest one, the person I was closest to that really got this going was my grandfather. He. He passed in 2017, but I just gre up watching him cook. And he always baked peach cobbler and I kind of mimicked my recipe after his. And you know, my grandpa, he owned a lot of restaurants or owned a lot of businesses when my mom and them were growing up. And he was a manager at Denny's up until his retirement. So I guess food was kind of like the avenue I was going to follow through him regardless of whether I baked or cooked.

So it sounds like you had both cooking and you had like entrepreneurship, business owner in the family. So. So like you just said. So you always thought you'd own your own business or how did you, like, when did the idea come that you had to be yours? You wanted to start your own?

Well, for the longest growing up, I wanted to be an electrical engineer because that's what my mom currently does. And I sucked at math and science and that's exactly what you needed. So, like, maybe something else. Then I started hanging out with my grandpa. I started finding out more about his background and what he did, and that kind of really just opened my eyes. And another inspiration of mine is Alton Brown. I started watching his show Good eats at like 11 or 12 years old. And when I realized that science is behind food and how things come together, that really sealed the deal for me, wanting to not only cook, but have my own business.

Okay, so how'd you take the steps towards the business? Like, was it first come up with what you wanted to bake and sell or. It was, I know I'm going to start something, I just got to figure out what it is that my business is going to do.

It started with wanting to cater. So as I mentioned, I have a daughter. And adding to that, I want to leave something for her too. So I started my skating company, 2018 and I wanted to cater just to manage my time better. But then I went back to school and kind of pushed my business in the side. But once I finished school school, I started picking it back up. So I didn't realize I wanted to bake until that second half of starting my business is when I really, like enjoyed baking. It really brought me happiness.

Got it. So have you done any kind of formal training in baking or. It's really just been tried and true and from the family and taking recipes and perfecting them.

I did go to school, so I went to the Art Institute when they had it in San Diego, and I got my bachelor's degree in culinary management. But I only took one baking class for my bachelor's program. The rest were cooking. So then from there I got my master's from University of Alabama Roll Tide, and I got it my master's in restaurant and hospitality management. So it was, I guess you could say it was both just that one baking class and trial and error kind of brought everything together.

Okay, are you ready to give us your secret to your cookies? So it's the special thing that you.

Do, love and warmth and happiness and that first bite of a nice warm chocolate chip cookie out the oven. That's how my mom likes to eat them. She doesn't even wait the 10 minutes. She'll just grab them and go. So that's what the secret is. Just the love that I put into it.

I love that. So there's a new law, you know, allowing micro enterprise home kitchens, that kind of thing is that enables you to do more or are you kind of out in a commercial kitchen? What's kind of the operations day to day?

Now I'm able to do more at home and it makes me happy because, you know, I just don't do cookies. I do cakes, cupcakes, when it's the holidays, we have our peach cobbler, we have our sweet potato pie that my mom makes. So it allows me to do more and, you know, really enjoy that family time I get when I do have family helping me or baking themselves.

Totally agree. You mentioned, you know, you obviously been very well educated in this space, but still running a business is. There's no real book on it. Right. So what did you do? Anything to surround yourself with other business owners or how did you kind of take the step forward in terms of, like, actually being the owner of the business and running it?

Um, you know, I just. I got help from my dad. He owns his own business, so he kind of taught me the steps on how to get started. But really it was Connect all was the real, like, I guess the nail head to the coffee, whatever that thing is. Because as you mentioned, yeah, I have all this formal education, but you can't pay for what they teach you at Connect All. And I'm really thankful to my fiance because he was the one who found out about the program, about Connect all in general, and he told me about it. I'm only five minutes from where they're located, so I was like, I'll give it a try. And I started off in the business resource center with Dana, and then from there she was like, we have our next cohort opening. I really want you to try and get into it. So I was like, okay, I got into it and it's been great ever since.

Take us through a little bit about what the program is. Imagine, you know, some people, like, are starting a business, but don't know even the kind of help that they would need. What was that like? And kind of learning the resources that are available through Connect All.

We start off with the application. You fill that out, you send it in, you do your interview, and if you're welcomed into the program, you know, we have. We're connected with our own personal mentors. Like, I'm still connected with my mentor. Today we take classes. There's like four different sections. They teach us on Customer discovery, finances and two other sections. And Alex has dedicated teachers for those topics. So we're really getting connected with what those topics really mean. Like, I didn't know what Customer Discovery was until I got into a stroke. So I. So once you go through that, then at the end there's a pitch competition and we're allowed to do a five minute presentation on, you know, what we learned from the program, where we see ourselves, everything like that. So it's a really great Program. I think any business owner I know, I've been telling them about the program. I think I've told people like three or four times already.

That's awesome. So is the program you're in Cohort 5, did that already finish or that's still going on?

Yes, that finished. So I was blessed enough to be the fourth surprise winner of the pitch competition. So we just finished up in March and it was really good. It was a really good program.

Very cool. Well, and I know that they're big on also keeping the alumni groups together and even inviting you back to be a mentor at some point too, which is awesome to see to once you get some help, to kind of look behind you and see who you can bring with you, which we super value here in San Diego. Take us through kind of where your business is now. Where is it headed?

So right now, before I actually started the program, I left my full time job. So being in the program, yeah, I just woke up one day, I was like, I can't do this anymore. And so I left there, went to connect all. So now I'm accepting orders every day of the week, working on wholesaling some of my cookies. So I'm going to try to get those to coffee shops, hotel gift shops, anywhere that, you know, needs like a little quick dessert for their customers to enjoy or have access to.

Awesome. Where do you think you'll be a year from now?

My goal when I started the program was to be at selling cookies and Target, but I'm hoping to at least have 10 wholesale contracts under my belt a year from now. I really believe in my product. I really believe that once people taste it, they'll be able to really understand like, you know, the whole big picture behind it. That just now I can hit the ground running and put my focus all into doing that.

That's awesome. Are you working on testing different business models in terms of like subscriptions vs buying one cookie? You mentioned wholesale as well. Like how are you going about testing the different ways to actually get the product out and being sold?

So right now I am working with a wholesale mentor through SBDC and we're literally having meetings once a week just crafting the almost perfect way to wholesale because she has tons of experience so she's walking me through it. So I'm not looking crazy or just throwing things out there. I'm the type of person that likes to plan every single step to the best of my abilities and then record from there.

That's great. Where did you say that mentor is from?

SBDC oh, sbdc.

Yeah. Oh, that's great. You're taking advantage of a lot of programs, which is super smart. It still's gotta, like, you ripped the band aid off and went full time, which I'm sure you thought about. When will you be ready? And there's never a good time to be ready, right. To go all in on the business. What advice would you give for anyone kind of in those shoes to like, when's the time? When do you go all in?

Well, you know, you're not happy. And I realized working for someone else and then going home and baking, how my levels changed. Like, I was happy baking, and if I made a mistake at home, I knew I was okay. But if I made a mistake at work, it was like World War Three. And I knew then and there I couldn't be in that environment. And that's not how I grew up. That's not how I was raised. I don't want to raise my daughter like that. And that's when I knew I was like, okay, I can't do that anymore.

That's great. That's. It's like, super realistic. You can grasp that. People can feel that emotion for sure. Is your daughter helping you cook and bake?

Yes, she is. Yeah. I'm a little scared because, you know, I burnt myself and cut myself off in culinary school. So I know what I'm doing, but even then, I'm on her like a hawk. Like, behind her, she's doing something, or it's just, I think the perfectionist in me, and I'm starting to see that in her. So I'm like, okay, I relax. Like, she has to learn, just like I learned. But she's definitely helping me. She liked it.

Oh, that's great. It's so cool to have the. You learned from growing up around it and continuing on, you know, the tradition and building a business around it. That's really cool to see. So we're excited to continue to watch you guys grow. I'm excited to try some cookies, so I'm going to get on the site and order some. What's the website so that everyone else can hear where to order from.

It's mayascateringcompany.com okay, awesome.

We'll put it in the show notes as well, too. Speaking of food, you know, speaking of desserts, really, the only thing that comes before a cookie is a taco in my book. There's also taco. There's also dessert tacos. I know. I grew up with, like, the choco taco, right? Yeah, the ice cream taco. Do you have a favorite savory taco? We can talk a dessert tacos in a second too. Do you have a favorite savory taco spot in San Diego?

I do and I have to bring it home to southeast San Diego. So it's called El Rill Taco Shop. It's on the corner of Euclid and Imperial. I've been going there since 2008 when I was in high school at Lincoln. So I stay true. That's my favorite taco shop.

Love it, love it, love it. It's a great one. Adding it to our taco database actually I'm going to check to see if it's been mentioned or not before yet. It's possible. Well, awesome. And favorite dessert taco related item? Do you make anything close to that for any certain holidays?

I don't have a dessert taco favorite but I do absolutely love red velvet cheesecake cake. I know it's not a taco, but I really love red velvet cake so I make my own play on it for my business.

Awesome. Super cool. Well Maya, thanks so much for sharing your story and for filling our tummies with warm chocolate chip cookies. The world thanks you because can't have enough of that for sure. Thanks again. Thanks for being on the pod. Appreciate it and all the best.

Thank you Neil. I appreciate your time.

Thanks for tuning in to Tacos and Tech Podcast. You can find all of our episodes on freshbroodtech.com as well as on Twitter at Tacos and Tech Pod. Also follow Fresh Food Tech on all of our social platforms and make sure to share and give a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play. Thanks again.

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